Franz Kafka's Life and Work

Franz Kafka was born in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary on July 3, 1883, but his live was short lived. He deceased at the age of forty on June 3, 1924.Kafka got most of his fame, because of his executor refusal to destroy all Kafka’s manuscripts. He is most known for his novels Metamorphosis, The Penal Colony, and The Trial. He was a German author of novels and short stories. Kafka came from a middle-class Jewish family in Prague, and was the first child of six. Kafka’s Father, Jacob Kafka was a butcher, and his mom helped Jacob with business, resulting in their absence most of the time at home. Kafka went to Charles university of Prague, where he initially majored in chemistry, but changed it law after the first two weeks of school. Frank

"A picture of my existence... would show a useless wooden stake covered in snow... stuck loosely at a slant in the ground in a ploughed field on the edge of a vast open plain on a dark winter night”. — Franz Kafka

A tidbit of history has been included to provide a background for Kafka. His upbringing is not considered normal. In 1883, he is born in Prague, Czechoslovakia to a successful Jewish couple. This combination dictated that he is neither Czech nor German, so his father sought to better the family’s name through Franz by insisting his schooling and social life be centered around the German-speaking elite of the provincial city. Throughout his childhood, he had a history of ailments that contributed to his propensity to dwell on intellectual studies instead of outdoor activities. He received a doctorate in law from the German University in Prague in 1906 per his father’s wishes. After graduating, he accepted a position as a legal clerk for a short period and found it lacking. In 1908, he left that position and started his career with a semi-governmental insurance company that probably saved his life as he is exempted from the mobilization during Hitler’s regime. This

“The Hunger Artist” by Franz Kafka, is about a man who self mutilated by starvation in attempt to be recognized, honored, and accepted while gaining fame. As noted on The National Center for Biotechnology Information, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ self mutilation by starvation was a common form of suicide in concentration camps for prisoners who wished to remove themselves from the severely harsh environment. The irony of “The Hunger Artist” is that Kafka wrote the story in the year of 1922. However, the Holocaust did not begun until the year of 1933 and ended in 1945. Decades later, the message from “The Hunger Artist” is continuously being retold with the existence of vanity and peer pressure included.

Franz Kafka is a twentieth century author who's most of his work would not be published if it were not for his acquaintance who refused to get rid of all of Kafka's work upon his request. Kafka's first pieces of literature were published in 1908. These were 8 stories were published in periodicals. He would write letters, as well as short stories and novels. Amongst his novels he wrote Amerika written in 1912, The Trial written in 1914, The Castle written in 1922. Kafka's writing is very symbolic and as well as very original although there might be tension at times. The Novel, The Metamorphosis was published in 1915. This story

In Franz Kafka’s short story, “A Hunger Artist”, Kafka introduces an eccentric man known as the Hunger Artist. The Hunger Artist has committed his entire life to the art of fasting, allowing himself to be caged and displayed to the public as if he were a painting (Kafka 198). Despite all the emotional turmoil he endures, he takes a great amount of pride in fasting and believes that he can fast for extremely elongated periods (Kafka 200). Unfortunately, his pride not only causes internal conflicts but also tragically leads to his unfortunate demise (Kafka 205). Through the setting and the character development of the Hunger Artist, Kafka illuminates the dangers of self-pride and depicts pride as harmful and detrimental to one’s existence.

“One of the most significant influences on Kafka’s life and work was his domineering father. Kafka’s stories often contain themes drawn from the burden of his father’s tyranny in his home life, depicting settings of confinement as well as convoluted systems of punishment and other expressions of seemingly all powerful authority.” (Miline 100) He blames his father for having robbed him of his childhood, never giving him the attention he is starving for, and like the hunger artist, he spends his whole life seeking it. The most sustained account of Kafka’s childhood is seen by Kafka himself, contained in the fifty-page

Hunger is a term that is often defined as the physical feeling for the need to eat. However, the Hunger Artist in Kafka's A Hunger Artist places a different, more complex meaning to this word, making the Hunger Artist's name rather ironic. The hunger of the Hunger Artist is not for food. As described at the end of the essay, the Hunger Artist states that he was in fact never hungry, he just never found anything that he liked. So then, what does this man's hunger truly mean? What drives the Hunger Artist to fast for so long, if he is truly not hungry? The Hunger Artist salivates not for the food which he is teased with, nor does he even sneak food when he alone. The Hunger Artist has a

Franz Kafka, born on July 3, 1883 in Bohemia, in the city of Prague, has been recognized as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. His works have been called "cloudy, mysterious, inexplicable" (Oates ix). Most people hear the term Kafkan or Kafkaesque and think of dark, fantastic tales with almost no basis in our known reality. But what of Kafka's sense of humor? I personally laughed out loud several times while reading Kafka's Amerika. Were these snippets of humor part of Kafka's plan or mere accidents?

Franz Kafka created literature mater pieces filled with sociological perspectives, and sort of Literary modernism basically much of which we can use to actually define generally modern and historic really social issues, which generally is quite significant. Kafka kind of was born in july 3, 1883 in in the city of Prague also known as the very capital of the for all intents and purposes Czech Republic, definitely contrary to popular belief. He kind of was one of six, with his two younger brother passing during their infant stages and his three sisters Ottilie, Elli, and Valli who also passed later down the line, or so they actually thought. His parents never understood his creative ideas and his passion for literature, often finding his ideas being undermined by his father, or so they for all intents and purposes thought. Kafka’s father really ruled the household in a tyrannical manner, he generally was also one example used to paint pictures of hardship, hate, and disappointment in most of his work in a subtle way. Kafka’s father was also a well known uneducated merchant who specifically worked his way up in the very Jewish slum of Prague, or so they basically thought. One of Franz Kafka’s greatest work of art for the most part was The Metamorphosis, really much of which described his life, sort of further showing how he essentially was one of six, with his two younger brother passing during their infant stages and his three sisters Ottilie, Elli, and Valli who also passed

In the book, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Gregor has moved down the social ladder to the worst because of the loss of money. The novella follows the Marxist theory where Gregor who represents the lower class, is exploited and eliminated. As part of the proletariat who sells his labour power for wages, he does not own the means of production and thereby has no authority over his very life. His limited power results in torture, mistreatment, exploitation, and ultimately death.

The Trial by Franz Kafka, an incomplete novel chalked full of questions and confusion – leading readers to ask questions such as “why does the court function how it does?” and “what the heck is K. being arrested for again?” Although Kafka predicates the novel on these two ideas, the court and Josef K., never do readers explicitly gain a comprehensive or satisfactory understanding of the pair. In light of the fact that The Trial is an incomplete novel, Kafka intentionally leaves the function of the court and K.’s true character up for question. Kafka accomplishes this by never giving a true name to either the court or Josef K., keeping the upper levels of the court a secret, and in Josef K.’s transition from successful banker to complete obsession with the court. Luckily, Kafka offers a trail of breadcrumbs that enables his readers to begin answering some of the questions presented in this book. This essay illuminates these “breadcrumb” moments scattered throughout the novel to reveal the true relationship between the court and its subjects. Furthermore, this essay asserts that the court was in fact correct in its conviction of Josef K. as evidenced in the last chapter of this novel.

Franz Kafka is one of the greatest writer of German Literature . His name only comes next to great German writer like Tolstoy, Dostoevsky , Thomas Mann . His work’s translation in English has all made him one of the classic and most popular writer of the world . Though he never wanted his works to be published. In his letter to his Friend Max Brod he requested him to burn all his writing as mentioned in epilogue by Brod in Franz Kafka’s Trial .

This can be understood in the context of Jacques Derrida’s concept of deconstruction and the idea of “difference” in addition to the principles of absurdism which include double negation, lack of reason, incongruity and lack of order. It is due to these concepts especially “deconstruction”, which means to “disassemble the parts of the whole” or to lose its construction” besides most of the themes adopted by absurdism are presented through the trial: the absurdity of the world, the contingency of events and the political oppression that helped in better understanding to Kafka’s The Trial where the udecidability of the text looms predominantly. According to Derrida’s own words, the undecidability “is not only an oscillation between contradictory rules which are very well determined and both equally peremptory”. This study will discuss how the language of deconstruction opens the space for absurdism in Kafka's The Trial. In the opening chapter Joseph K. is arrested and this arrest process took place not at physical standard but at mental standard. Mr. K.

In his parable Before the Law, Franz Kafka suggests that obstacles that one faces in life can either be used to mold one’s success or bring about one’s failure. If one can overcome challenges that they face they grow in a unique type of way, for every individual perceives each situation in a distinct fashion. That unique type of growth is what establishes a person’s character and perception of the world. However if one cannot overcome their obstacles, then they cut of their means for growth and are left uninspired, forgetting any dreams or aspirations. It is through the man’s interaction with the doorkeeper, and his inability to overcome this obstacle, that eventually leads him down the path of complacency and failure.